Plan for 2024 Garden

Legume leaves nitrogen - 2. Leaf takes nitrogen - 3. Fruit takes  phosphorus- 4. Root takes potassium-

(1 square ft.)

Bed 1: Farthest from House on Right, facing house: Legumes

Peas and Beans fix nitrogen into the soil and can be planted in the spring. Also we could plant in this bed dill and cosmos, which would attract a wide variety of good bugs like ladybugs, lacewings, damsel bugs, and hoverflies, all of which will help control aphids, red spider mites, and whiteflies. Minute pirate bugs also help manage Mexican bean beetles and can be attracted by planting marigolds. Trifecta Plus 5-10-4 is a good all around good fertilizer to replenish the soil, as it lasts all year long and will increase flowering production as well as root growth, plant health, and produce larger, healthier, more nutrient-rich vegetables. Trifecta contains fast-acting and slow-release nutrients, as well as over 70 trace mineral micronutrients and beneficial bacteria and fungi.

Bed 2: Nearest House on Right, facing house: Leaf Crops

In this bed will be planted the nitrogen hungry plants such as lettuce, greens such as kale, collards, mustard and spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, herbs. Because of this, I will fertilize the bed with a high nitrogen fertilizer before planting, such as Alaska Fish Emulsion which has a 5-1-1 NPK ratio or Blood Meal which had a 12-0-0 NPK ratio. (BTW: It is interesting to note that the Blood Meal bag advertises that not only is it specially formulated for vegetables that require additional nitrogen - such as lettuce and kale but it is also for fruiting plants like tomatoes, eggplant, squash and peppers. The large percentage of nitrogen is just what they need to produce large, thick leaves that resist pests and disease. Brassicas take months to mature and can take up a lot of space, so I always fill in the space around them with leaf lettuce. Planting sweet alyssum and dill will attract hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, and parasitic wasps, which all will help control the aphids and cabbage worms. Nasturtiums and calendula are trap crops that will attract any aphids the beneficial insects miss and also give the pests a more enticing meal than the brassicas and lettuce. Assassin bugs will kill aphids and caterpillars and can be lured to your garden with a variety of flowers, including daisy-type flowers and sunflowers. Fennel planted around the cauliflower attracts parasitic wasps, which will lay eggs under the skin of the caterpillars; the wasp larvae will then eat the worms from the inside out. Companion planting with cosmos around your cauliflower will attract hoverflies, and the larvae of the hoverfly will eat aphids. To give them some help, plant nasturtiums as a trap crop; aphids will love the nasturtiums even more than they love the cauliflower.

Bed 3: Nearest the House on left, facing house: Fruit

This bed is filled with phosphorus loving plants crops in which we harvest the fruits of such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons, cucumber. Seaweed extract, such as Sea-K, adds more than 70 enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Its blend of 0-0-18 NPK supports stressed plants and encourages healthy, productive blooming. Another good product can be Mycorrhizae, which has an NPK of .5-.1-7. Budding and flowering uses a lot of energy, and the high levels of potassium in this product will replenish it. At the onset of budding, apply it according to package instructions to increase available nutrients that will be used in the process. To attract tachinid flies, I will plant parsley and dill around the cucumber plants. Tachinid flies love to dine on cucumber beetle and squash bugs, both of which are pest to cucumbers. Plants like cosmos, zinnia, yarrow, and alyssum work well to attract parasitic wasps. Spearmint and sunflowers attract minute pirate bugs, which are a predator of aphids. The mint, however, will be grown in a container that will sit at the edge of the bed as it can be very invasive. Also planted in the bed will be herbs like thyme and oregano, which will attract ladybugs. Also, to create a bee-friendly garden bright-colored flowers like zinnias can be interplanted. I will plant basil in and around the tomato plants to keep hornworms at bay.

Bed 4: Farthest from the House on left, facing house: Root crops

This bed plan is made up primarily of potassium loving plants root crops: radish, carrots, beets, onions, and garlic, all of which are grown, or at least planted, in the cool season. Add phosphorus-based fertilizers like bone meal, which has a NPK ratio of 3-15-0. Dr. Earth Bulb Food is a granular conditioner formulated especially for tuber and root crops (and flowering bulbs), with a 3-15-2 NPK ratio. Notice that the phosphorus is available in the largest amount here; this is because it’s the most essential nutrient for healthy root development. Obviously, this is perfect for vegetables that produce edible roots such as carrots, beets, and radishes, as well as flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils. This blend is comprised of components such as feather and fish bone meal, rock phosphate, and alfalfa meal, which not only adds a variety of important nutrients to the soil, but can also improve soil structure as well. Apply it prior to planting and again at midseason for best results. One of the biggest enemies of carrots is the carrot fly maggot, and the carrot fly finds carrots through their scent, so ringing a carrot planting with strong-smelling chives will help mask the odor the carrots produce and thus thwart a carrot fly attack. You can grow up to 16 carrots per square foot, and 6 to 8 beets per square foot. If you let some of the carrots go to flower, they will attract beneficial insects to your garden. Planting thyme in your carrot bed a few weeks prior to planting the carrot seeds will attract damsel bugs, which will feed on cutworms and also carrot fly larvae. Lacewing larvae are voracious aphid eaters. You can attract adult lacewings to your carrot patch by companion planting with cosmos.

2025: 1. Leaf takes nitrogen- 2. Fruit takes phosphorus - 3. Root takes potassium- 4. Legume leaves nitrogen

In the future years, the beds will be rotated in order to take advantage of what is primarily left unused in the soil after the previous plants. The legumes are nitrogen fixing, so the nitrogen loving leaf crops will now be planted in this bed. The fruiting crops will be planted in the bed where the leaf crops had been planted because they need less nitrogen but more phosphorus, which the leaf vegetables didn't take too much of from the soil. The root crops will be planted in bed three where the fruiting crops were grown because they need even less nitrogen and phosphorus than the previous fruiting crops but they do need lots of potassium, which the other plants didn't use up. The legumes will be planted in the remaining bed so that they can add nitrogen back to the soil for the next year's rotation.

2026: 1. Fruit takes phosphorus - 2. Root takes potassium - 3. Legume leaves nitrogen- 4. Leaf takes nitrogen

The fruiting crops will be planted in bed one this year, where the leaf crops had been planted because they need less nitrogen but more phosphorus, which the leaf vegetables didn't take too much of from the soil. The root crops will be planted in bed two where the fruiting crops were grown because they need even less nitrogen and phosphorus than the previous fruiting crops but they do need lots of potassium, which the other plants didn't use up. The legumes will be planted in bed three this year. And the Leaf crops will be planted in bed four so that they can take advantage of nitrogen which last year's legumes left.

2027: 1. Root takes potassium - 2. Legume leaves nitrogen - 3. Leaf  takes nitrogen- 4. Fruit -takes takes phosphorus-

The root crops will be planted in bed one this year, where the fruiting crops were grown because they need even less nitrogen and phosphorus than the previous fruiting crops but they do need lots of potassium, which the other plants didn't use up. The legumes will be planted in bed two this year. And the Leaf crops will be planted in bed three so that they can take advantage of nitrogen which last year's legumes left. The fruiting crops will be planted in bed four, where the leaf crops had been planted last year because they need less nitrogen but more phosphorus, which the leaf vegetables didn't take too much of from the soil.

2028: 1. Legume leaves nitrogen - 2. Leaf takes nitrogen - 3. Fruit takes  phosphorus- 4. Root takes potassium-

Now we are rotating back to the original composition from 2024, continuing the rotation cycle.